Sunday, November 24, 2013

As church scandal grows, Catholic Charities keeps an eye on donations

Catholic
Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis is closely watching for any
decline in giving because of fallout from the ongoing clergy
sexual-abuse scandal in Minnesota.

But so far, officials
for the nonprofit that’s been helping immigrants and the poor for 144
years say donations are holding steady.

The mounting
scandal involving the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis could even
result in more donations going to the charity. That’s because some
faithful and high-profile donors are channeling their money away from
the archdiocese and its Annual Catholic Services Appeal, which provides a
tiny percentage of income to Catholic Charities, and instead funneling
donations directly to Catholic Charities.

But it’s too
early to discern any pattern, and some people — believing that the
archdiocese and Archbishop John Nienstedt control Catholic Charities’
budget, an assertion the charity says is wrong — say they are
side-stepping the social-service organization.

One
lifelong Catholic, a 75-year-old St. Paul woman, told me she worries
any donations to Catholic Charities would “be under the control of the
archdiocese.’’

The woman, who spoke only on condition her name not be
used because she didn’t want to get involved with the church
controversy, said she gives about 5 percent of her income each year to a
variety of social-service, art and environmental groups — including
organizations that have connections to the Catholic Church, such as the
Dorothy Day Center in St. Paul — but not to Catholic Charities.

The
woman, who has cut off donations to Catholic Charities because of the
scandal, said “I give to organizations that may be served by Catholic
Charities’’ instead.

Donations stay 'exclusively' with Catholic Charities

In
response to such views, Tim Marx, the nonprofit’s chief executive
officer, said donations to his organization stay “solely and
exclusively” with Catholic Charities “to serve and advocate” for those
most in need in the community.

He added that his staff is monitoring the
situation carefully and responding to concerns by many “stakeholders,
donors and partners.”

Marx said that donations over the
last couple of years and over the past several months are “steady to
increasing’’ and that the organization has seen “no discernible impact
from the controversy surrounding clergy misconduct.’’

“We
hear some people might be giving to us because of that and some people
might not be giving to us because of that,’’ Marx said.

Catholic
Charities has an annual budget of $44 million and serves about 35,000
people each year by helping to house, feed and otherwise aid the poor.

The charity receives about $1.4 million from the Annual Catholic
Services Appeal, an archdiocesan fundraising effort, and Nienstedt is
one of Catholic Charities’ 42 board members.

In 2013, 37.4 percent of
Catholic Charities’ revenue came from individuals, organizations, wills
and bequests. Government contracts made up 41 percent of the budget.

Donations
this year to Catholic Charities on Give to the Max Day on Nov. 14 at
first were down — $82,000, compared with $110,000 last year.

But Jessie
Sorensen, vice president of development and external affairs for
Catholic Charities, said that’s not a fair measure of donors’ attitudes
because technical difficulties forced a five-hour shutdown of the Give
MN charity fund’s website that day.

While the Give MN website was
malfunctioning, donors turned to the Catholic Charities website,
Sorenson said Monday, with the upshot being those donations about
equaled last year's numbers.

Matching grants that day generated
additional funds, she said.

High-profile donors

Among
high-profile donors supporting Catholic Charities but not the
archdiocesan leadership are Tom Horner, a Twin Cities public-affairs
strategist who ran for governor as an Independence Party candidate in
2010.

Explained Horner: “My wife Libby and I were
strong, loyal supporters of Catholic Charities before Archbishop
Nienstedt and we will be strong, loyal supporters of Catholic Charities
after Archbishop Nienstedt.”

Horner said “the concern we
have is with the archbishop” and his handling of abuse cases as well as
the archdiocese’s $1 million campaign to pass a constitutional
amendment prohibiting gay marriage.

Horner would not reveal the size of the Horners’ donation — only that it is not in the “top tier.’’

Others
redirecting their giving include James R. Frey, president and CEO of
the Frey Foundation of Minnesota, which donates funds to many nonprofit
and Catholic-related organizations serving the poor.

In
an email response to my questions, Frey said he and his wife, Mary, have
stopped donating to the archdiocese and increased direct monetary gifts
to Catholic Charities and other organizations because of concerns about
the leadership of the archdiocese and its past expenditures.

Smaller donors

Those
who make more modest donations are also upset by the church’s response
to the sexual-abuse cases and are protesting with their checkbooks.

Bob
Walz, a lifelong Catholic and retired Catholic church employee from
North Branch, used to allocate about $50 a week to his parish.

That
has ended. “I have stopped contributing to anything the archdiocese
shares in,’’ said Walz, who was educated in Catholic schools and studied
for a time to become a priest.

Instead he contributes
to the cemetery fund and a homeless shelter at Guardian Angels Catholic
Church in Oakdale where he worked until retiring last year.

“There
are a lot of Catholics who feel the way I do,’’ Walz said, adding that a
fellow parishioner told him, “The only thing this church understands is
money. And if people would stop contributing, then they would feel the
financial pressure to do something.’’